Pool Reports of June 10, 2020

WH pool report 1 -- nothing going on

Good morning from Fortress White House on a hot and sticky late spring day. Pool has been nose-swabbed for COVID-19 testing and is now standing by.

Per the daily guidance, the president has no public events on his schedule.

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has a briefing set at 1400, which is to be live streamed at whitehouse.gov and may be carried on cable nets as well.

WH pool report 2 -- lunch lid

The WH press office at 1304 announced a lunch lid until 1400.

WH pool report 3 -- Kudlow says: " I don't believe there is systemic racism."

Larry Kudlow held a 13-minute gaggle on the driveway.

Top lines:

* He said he doesn't believe there is systemic racism. "I don't believe there is systemic racism."
* He doesn't believe his endorsing Trump in his recent video was a violation of the Hatch Act. "You're barking up the wrong tree."
* He would not comment on Trump's tweet yesterday about the alleged elderly antifa guy.

Very faint audio available on request.

WH pool report 4 -- briefing pushed to 1430

The WH press office just announced that the briefing will begin at 1430.

WH pool report 5

The WH press office just announced a two-minute warning for the start of the press secretary's briefing.

WH pool report 5a -- handout

Just prior to press secretary's entrance, staff handed out a sheet of paper that had printed on it the wording from Trump's most recent tweets about honoring military bases named leaders in the armed forces of the Confederacy.

WH pool report 5b — handout

[APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.]

WH pool report 6

Pool has has been called to the briefing room door.

WH pool report 7 - Cabinet room

Pool is holding in the hall leading to Upper Press, en route to the Cabinet Room.

We have not been told what the event is.

WH pool report 8 — in the Cabinet room.

Pool was led into the Cabinet room at 1604, where the president is seated at the head of the table, surrounded by African-American supporters, including Sec Ben Carson, pastor Darrell Scott,, and others.

Says he's going to restart rallies with one in Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina.

Talking about moving the convention. "The Governor is not giving an inch."

Now talking about how great the comeback is going.

MORE to follow.

WH pool report 8a - participants

Per the WH:

Today, President Donald J. Trump will lead a roundtable discussion with the following individuals:

The White House
President Donald J. Trump
Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
Brooke Rollins, Assistant to the President and Acting Director of the Domestic Policy Council
Ja'Ron Smith, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of American Innovation

Trump Administration
Secretary Ben Carson, Department of Housing and Urban Development

External Participants
Wayne Dupree, Host, The Wayne Dupree Show
Raynard Jackson, President and CEO, Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC
Sonnie Johnson, Host, Sirius XM's Sonnies Corner
Lawrence Jones, Host and Contributor, Fox News
Pastor Darrell Scott, Chairman, Urban Revitalization Coalition, Inc.
Kareem Lanier, Co-Chairman, Urban Revitalization Coalition, Inc.

WH pool report 9 — Cabinet room meeting

Carson spoke, and then Trump back to talking about the economy.

Said it would the best next year, and that it was hurt is the fault of the virus. "It was a plague that floated in from China."

There are six black leaders, not counting Carson. They are sitting about 3-4 feet apart. No one is wearing a mask.

Going around the table. Raynard Jackson now accusing the media of lying about Trump. Attacking black journalists by name.

WH pool report 10 — more meeting

Trump taking credit for criminal justice reform and opportunity zones.

Says previous administrations did not help HBCUs.

"They were treated very badly and treated them very good."

Says the black community is doing very well now.

WH pool report 11 — media is unfair

Trump agrees that the media is unfair to him after Wayne Dupree says this is happening.

"The media is almost 100 percent negative. It's incredible."

WH pool report 12 -- Trump refuses to answer question about why Confederacy needs defending

The pool was cleared from the room at 1631.

Trump took one question, about his coming trip tomorrow, and announced that his first rally would be next Friday in Tulsa.

He refused to answer, twice, why the Confederacy needed to be defended.

His answer on tomorrow coming ASAP.

WH pool report 13 -- West point commencement speech

The president said he would be going to Dallas tomorrow, returning tomorrow night, and then going to West Point to give the commencement address there on Saturday.
"The cadets wanted that very much."
He ignored questions about the confederacy, but answered that he would be doing his first rally since March a week from Friday in Tulsa.

QUOTES from earlier in the event coming re: the economy and rally cities.

WH pool report 14 -- call read out with El-Sisi

Per WH:

Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt. President Trump praised President El-Sisi's efforts last weekend to promote political reconciliation and de-escalation in the Libyan conflict. The two leaders discussed ways to resume the United Nations' 5+5 ceasefire talks and the departure of all foreign forces from Libya. President Trump reiterated the commitment of the United States to facilitating a fair and equitable deal among Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

WH pool report 15 -- quotes about rallies, how bad the NC governor is, the economy

Trump claimed, falsely, that there had not been an empty seat at any of his rallies since he came down his escalator.
"We've had a tremendous run at rallies. I don't think we've had an empty seat since we came down the escalator."
Rallies coming up: Tulsa ("They've done a great job with COVID, as you know, in the state of Oklahoma.")Florida, Texas, Arizona.
"We're going into North Carolina at the appropriate time. The governor's a little backward there, a little bit behind."
Said he had "no choice" but to move the Republican convention, and that it would be announced shortly.
"We'll see how it all works out, but the governor doesn't want to give an inch."
Said "many, many states" would like to have the convention. Texas, Georgia, Florida.
Started talking about the stock market, said there was good news out of the Fed, that the jobs numbers were very good.
"We're on our way to a very big comeback."

WH pool report 16 -- clarification of participants

In an earlier report, your pooler stated that there were six African-American supporters, apart from Ben Carson.

In fact, one of those six was Ja'Ron Smith, who works in the WH. His title: Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of American Innovation

As always, please check the quotes against the transcript or audio from C-SPAN, etc.

WH pool report 17 – lid

At 1731, the WH press office announced a travel/photo lid for the day.

Good evening to all.